St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-24
THAT MONKEY WRENCH.
1t Gets Mixed With a Dipper and
Proves Lawyer Knittie's limo


cenCe.
Another climax has been reached in
the famous monkey wrench episode
which had origin in the escape of Thomas
b. Franklin from the MINNEAPOLIS lock-
up on the 9th of August last. The chain
of circumstantial evidence by which
County Attorney Davis expected to con-
Wet Lawyer Albert Knittle of assisting
in the escape has been shattered
and Lawyer Knittle now breathes
freer. 1t all came about through a
small advertisement which E. A. Camp
bell. attorney for the accused knittle,
inserted in the GLOBE yesterday on the
advice of Chief of Detectives O'Connor,
of st. Paul.
By these developments an ordinary
tin dipper appears in the tale as a COM
paniOn to the historic monkey wrench.
When Franklin escaped from the
lookup he was at once recaptured by
Detective Quinlan, who had been sta
toned outside the Jail 10y County At
torney Davis in expectation of that very
thing. In the cell when Franklin was
returned the detective found a monkey
wrench, with which the ingenious swim
dler had unScrewed the nut that held
the bolt that held the lock that held the
door of his cell. Who was the guilty
man who gave the wrench to Frank
lin? This was the great question.
1t was learned that Lawyer Albert
Knittle had called upon the prisoner the
night before. 1t was further learned
that Lawyer Albert Knittle had accom-
panied Mrs. Hugh Clarity, alias Mollie
Sykes. to st. Paul the day before. to
lend legal assistance to Hugh Clarity,
a Minneapolis crook who was held in
this city for attempting to shoot Detect
i've Kenaly. Then it was learned from
ii. E. Humphrey, proprietor of the
st. Paul hardware store, on the
corner of Seventh and Minnesota
streets, that a strange lady had driven
UP to his store that afternoon and pur-
chased a monkey-wrench and tin dip
per, the former being identical with the
wrench which was found in Frank
Inns cell. The aStute mind Of County
Attorney Davis at once grasped the
Inference that the strange lady who
purchased the wrench was Mrs. Hugh
Clarity, and that she had given
the wrench to Attorney Knittie, who, in
turn, had passed it in to Franklin.
The only circumstance which looked
at all peculiar in all this was the pur-
chase of the TIN dipper. What did Mrs.
Hugh Clarity want with a tin dipper?
Ills Question WAS Sll01lceQ Dy the con-
clusion that the tin dipper had been pur-
chased as ''stall," and County Attorney
Davis took his case before the grand
jury. Lawyer Knittle was in bad fix.
and he might have been in a worse fix
had it not been for the advertisement in
the SUNDAY GLOBE. He must either
find the lady who had really purchased
the monkey wrench at Mr.. Humphreys
hardware store, or be convicted and go
to jail on the evidence prepared by the
county attorney. In this plight Lawyer
Knittle, accompanied by his advising
counsel, MIR. Campbell, came to st.
Paul OH Saturday last and consulted
Chief of Detectives O'Connor as to the
means of discovering the lady. Mr..
O'Connor told them to advertise, and
they did, and the result was just what
might have been expected.
While the newsboys were still calling
the SUNDAY GLOBE OH the streets, the
| lady in question appeared at the Office
to answer the advertisement in
person. The lady is the wife
| of a leading citizen and herself leader
in fashionable society. II would have
passed it by unnoticed," she said, IF
the tin dipper hadn't been mentioned.
l read it over second time, and then
/ remembered that had stopped at the
hardware store while out shopping one
day, and had purchased tin dipper at
the suggestion of my servant. The mon
key wrench / bought to be used in oil
ing the carriage wheels"